Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 337

At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark,
and he sent out a raven,
to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.
It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.
Then he sent out a dove,
to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.

There's ancient ornithology in this story. It seems the raven, a larger version of a crow, is familiar throughout the world. A hardy survivor, it makes a home wherever it goes. Noah's raven might have glided like an albatross over limitless seas for many months, but it probably landed and fed upon debris. There were many floating carcasses, animal and human.   

The peaceful dove was not so hardy. It needed dry land to forage and trees to hold its nest. It returned to the ark and God's chosen survivors to wait a while longer. 

Christians also create and maintain peaceful places where we encounter the Lord and nurture our faith. We can survive and sometimes thrive with terrible challenges, but we'd rather not. Since our earliest days, especially as the Pax Romana was descending into barbaric chaos, Christians built monasteries, safe havens not only for the men or women who lived there but also for travelers and guests. Children and young people attended the monastic schools where they studied wisdom of past centuries. At one time European youth traveled great distances to study in Ireland. The isolated island had known little of the Roman Empire and was less affected by its collapse. 

As the flood waters of anarchy again attempt their doomed experiments with tyrants and dictators, preferring kleptocracy to democracy, we retreat to the "ark" of our peaceful homes and churches. We cannot suppose the Church will always be there because it's always been there. Rather, we study and practice our faith, renewing our dedication to the Lord and his ways. 

We can listen respectfully to challenging voices who point to our shortcomings, but they are angry because we're faithful and because we're not entirely faithful. When we try to create shortcuts in God's plan for us, they cry "foul!" They might not admit it but they want us to succeed; they demand that we be faithful. 

We're not ravens who can flourish on wreckage and floating debris. Peaceful doves, we plant and cultivate civility, learning, and civilization. We see the Kingdom of God from afar and build a world that resembles it.